How didn't Edwards help Kerry?

[Suburbia]

John Edwards was supposed to help John Kerry in Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia, etc.

Edwards' populist appeal was supposed to flip those states.

What happened?

Was it Kerry?

[Agonized-Statism]

Why vote for the opposition when you have the Evangelical candidate, George Bush, right there? If you don't at least pair populism with strong social conservatism, especially in the 2004 South which was enamored with the far right economics of Reagan and Clinton, you're a tough sell to those voters. Also, their hate of Massachusettsan Kerry definitely eclipsed any warm feelings for Edwards.

[Del Tachi]

Edwards is one of the slimiest political operators of the entire 21st century

Kerry could have moved the needle with Gephardt, Clark or Bredesen

[Samof94]

It could have been worse. Imagine if the sex scandal had been known at the time.

[LabourJersey]

Edwards is one of the slimiest political operators of the entire 21st century

Kerry could have moved the needle with Gephardt, Clark or Bredesen

While true, did people view Edwards as a slimy guy in 2004?

I genuinely don't know.

[SInNYC]

The ultra ambitious Edwards cared more about his prospects in the future than about helping Kerry win (you could argue that he was also ultra dumb since being veep might have helped him gain what he wanted so much in the future). He didnt play the attack dog role that veeps need to, and there was also a lack of chemistry between him and Kerry, which Kerry hinted at after the election (Edwards supposedly refused to return phone calls after the election).

While there were a vocal few who considered themselves on the left and also pro-Edwards (I will call them high-gullibility voters since they often denounced everybody else as low-information voters), most voters did not buy his schtick transforming overnight from DLC posterchild to two-americas left populism. So, he was slimy in that sense, though his personal life wasn't publicly known in 2008.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Edwards is one of the slimiest political operators of the entire 21st century

Kerry could have moved the needle with Gephardt, Clark or Bredesen

While true, did people view Edwards as a slimy guy in 2004?

I genuinely don't know.

Pre scandal Edwards seemed like a future POTUS like Bill Clinton. John Edwards was a smooth talking trial lawyer, and was a Southern good ole' boy who ran a populist Two Americas campaign in 2008. If he had won the nomination in 2008, he would have won the Upper South like in 92 and 96.

[Turbo Flame]

Edwards is one of the slimiest political operators of the entire 21st century

Kerry could have moved the needle with Gephardt, Clark or Bredesen

That right there.

[Samof94]

Why vote for the opposition when you have the Evangelical candidate, George Bush, right there? If you don't at least pair populism with strong social conservatism, especially in the 2004 South which was enamored with the far right economics of Reagan and Clinton, you're a tough sell to those voters. Also, their hate of Massachusettsan Kerry definitely eclipsed any warm feelings for Edwards.

A book was written back then a couple of years later about how to make a democratic coalition with zero southern states.